Markus Lichtsteiner (born 14 February 1973) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played in the 1990s and 2000s as defender. Lichtsteiner played in the youth system of

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

and advanced to their first team for their 1993–94 season, signing his first professional contract under head-coach

Claude Andrey Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League. Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internation ...

. Lichtsteiner played his domestic league debut for his club in the away game on 19 August 1993 as Basel won 4–0 against

Urania Genève Sport Urania Genève Sport is a Swiss omnisport club based in Geneva. Its football section was founded in 1896. The current club was born in 1922 through a merger between FC Urania and FC Genève. Its main title is the Swiss cup, won in 1929 against ...

. Lichtsteiner scored his first goal for his club just two days later, on 21 August in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

as Basel won 3–1 against

Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...

. During this season his teammates were the likes of Swiss international goalkeeper

Stefan Huber Stefan Huber (born 14 June 1966) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Huber played his youth football by local club FC Unterstrass. He then moved to Grasshoppe ...

, defenders

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and

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, the midfielders

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and the Swiss international strikers

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and

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. Together they won the promotion/relegation group and became Nationalliga B champions and thus won promotion to the top flight of Swiss football. This after six seasons in the second tier. After the promotion season Lichtsteiner stayed with the club for the following season, but did not come to any competition playing time. During his time with the club Lichsteiner played a total of eight games for Basel scoring that one mentioned goal. Three of these games were in the Nationalliga A and five were friendly games. Following his time with Basel, Lichtsteiner moved on to play for local amateur club FC Riehen in the third tier of Swiss football. Lichtsteiner played for Riehen for four season, but after they suffered relegation at the end of the 1998–99 season he moved on. Lichtsteiner then signed semi-professional for Concordia Basel who played at the same level. At the end of the 2000–01 season Concordia won their 1st League group and qualified for the promotion play-offs. In the first round the beat

Schötz Schötz is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Willisau (district), Willisau in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Ohmstal merge ...

3–1 on aggregate. In the final round they beat

Vaduz Vaduz (; or ; High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' ...

and drew with Serrières to become 1st League champions and win promotion to the Nationalliga B. Lichtsteiner stayed with the club for the following season, obtaining a professional contract as he was a regular starter in the team. He played 30 league matches, scoring one goal, but at the end of the season he moved on. Lichtsteiner moved to play the 2002–03 season for local amateur club

FC Nordstern Basel FC Nordstern Basel is a football team from Basel, Switzerland. Currently playing in the Swiss 8th division, FC Nordstern Basel has spent 35 seasons in the Swiss top flight, last in 1982. They were runners-up in the Swiss league in 1924, 1927, and ...

and the following three seasons for

FC Laufen Football Club Laufen, is a football club from Laufen, Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germa ...

in the fourth tier of Swiss football. With Laufen he won promotion in the 2004–05 season. In summer 2006 Lichsteiner moved on to play for

BSC Old Boys Basler Sportclub Old Boys, commonly known as BSC Old Boys, Old Boys Basel or simply Old Boys or when written just OB, is a Swiss sports club based in Basel, Switzerland. The club is mainly known for its football but it also has track, swimming ...

and with them he won promotion in the 2007–08. He ended his active playing career in 2010.

References

Sources

* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichtsteiner, Markus FC Basel players FC Concordia Basel players FC Nordstern Basel players FC Laufen players BSC Old Boys players Swiss men's footballers Men's association football defenders Swiss Challenge League players 1973 births Living people